Newark Public Schools, Girls Who Code partner to expand computer science opportunities

The Girls Who Code organization is partnering with Newark Public Schools in New Jersey this spring to introduce coding to more than 3,000 girls in 24 middle schools in the district, where students in only six schools previously had access to coding clubs, Chalkbeat reports.The effort is spurred in part by a greater focus in the state on computer science education, including a new law that requires every public high school in the state to offer a class in the subject — though access to properly trained instructors for the classes is proving to be a challenge.The effort is also designed to interest more girls in the field, since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting just over 5 million computing jobs in the nation by the year 2026, up 13.7% from 4.4 million in 2016, and expects a shortage of workers in the field.